13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)
In counseling, there is no passage I turn to more than 1 Corinthians 10:13. This passage is an encouragement for every temptation a Christian faces. Temptations are difficult. Many times, enduring them without giving in to sin feels nearly impossible. Battling temptation is even more difficult when we are undisciplined (9:27). A lack of self-control leaves a Christian more vulnerable to give in to sinful temptation. But the Lord, in his grace, does not leave us helpless in the fight against the temptations of our flesh. The Lord helps us by teaching us about the nature of temptation, reminding us of his faithfulness, and strengthening us to endure temptation without sinning.
The Nature of Temptation
Temptation, in itself, is neutral; it is not sin. The Greek word that we translate as temptation, in other contexts, can also be translated as testing. The Bible makes it very clear that God tests. He tested Abraham when he told him to sacrifice Isaac. Jesus’ temptation by Satan was a testing that proved Jesus’ righteousness. James makes it clear that God uses trials as a testing and refining of our faith. Testing comes from a loving Father who knows what is best for us. He knows what we need, and he uses those tests to sanctify us. However, each test can also be a temptation to unbelief. But understand this: the tests God providentially allows are never temptations from Him to sin. James says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ᾽I am being tempted by God,᾽ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (Jas 1:13). To tempt, or be tempted, is contrary to the very nature of God. God would not be God if he tempted us to sin.
The tests the Lord providentially allows in our lives, the devil wants to use to move us away from trusting God. We see this with Job. The Lord allows Job to be tested, proving his righteous character. Satan desired to test Job so he would curse God. The righteous response to testing is to respond in obedience, thereby fleeing the temptation to sin. However, each one of us regularly fails to respond in faith and obedience. Why do we give in to temptation so easily?
Why We Give in to Temptation:
Temptation to sin is everywhere. We live in a world that is under the rule of Satan (Eph. 2:2; John 12:31) and is opposed to Christ and his people. The world has an allure. It promises that joy, happiness, and meaning can be found if we walk in its paths. Our flesh is also a source of temptation. Though we are a new creation in Christ, we still have that sin principle remaining. We call it indwelling sin. In our flesh, we often respond sinfully to the tests that God allows in our lives, and give in to “the desires of the world, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).
These internal things (the flesh), and external things (the devil and the world) are sources of temptation, but they do not make us sin. So why do we give in to temptation? It is because we desire what the temptation offers. James makes this very clear when he says, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (Jas 1:14–15). We see this in the very first sin. Eve saw the fruit was good for food, it delighted her eyes, and she desired it because it would make her wise (Gen.3:6). Adam and Eve could not use the excuse, “The Devil made me do it.” No one can ever blame their upbringing, their circumstances, their family, or their physical bodies as an excuse for responding sinfully to temptation.
James makes it very clear how temptation turns into sin. First, we are tempted. Our desires entice us; then, we act on that desire. It begins in the mind, and then we act upon it. It is at this point when we contemplate the act in the mind that desire has conceived and given birth to sin. Every temptation we do not resist is because we have failed to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).
Ways We Give in to Temptation:
In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul calls giving in to temptation desiring evil. In verse 6, he says that what happened to Israel in the wilderness was so “that we might not desire evil as they did.” It is not a coincidence that the ways Israel desired evil correspond to every form of temptation we face.
Israel was tempted towards idolatry—and they gave in. At Sinai, when Moses is on the mountain longer than they like, they plunge headlong into idolatry (Ex. 32). Idolatry is always first an issue of the heart. As Brad Bigney has defined it, “An idol is anything or anyone that captures our hearts, minds, and affections more than God” (Gospel Treason, 24). Idolatry is a constant temptation for Christians. The very last thing the apostle John tells us in his last epistle is, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
Israel was tempted towards sexual immorality—and they gave in. As Israel was wandering the wilderness for 40 years, they were tempted by the Midianites. They were not to intermarry, but here was an opportunity, a temptation that met with their desires. Their desires conceived and gave birth to sin, and sin brought death. In the case of Israel, their sexual immorality brought immediate death, as 23,000 were killed by a plague that very day. Just like Israel, we face temptations to sexual immorality in a multiplicity of ways (social media feeds, YouTube, television, easy access to all forms of pornography). But even if all these avenues of temptation are removed, we can still be tempted to look upon a man or woman with lust in our hearts. The Bible repeatedly warns about the danger of sexual immorality. Solomon tells his son,
My son, be attentive to my wisdom;
incline your ear to my understanding,
that you may keep discretion,
and your lips may guard knowledge.
For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to Sheol;
she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.
Prov. 5:1–6
The children of Israel were tempted to impatience—and they gave in. Paul says this is putting Christ to the test. The specific scene Paul has in mind comes from Numbers 21. There, the people spoke against God and Moses. The Lord responded and “sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died” (Num 21:6). They put Christ to the test with their impatience (Num. 21:4). Impatience is an unwillingness to wait for the Lord’s time. We rush ahead, instead of waiting on the Lord. Our impatience flows from a desire to please ourselves, not God, to live life by our time, not his.
That wilderness generation was tempted to grumble—and they gave in. Grumbling and impatience are closely related. Grumbling is discontentment. We grumble about the things God has allowed, or not allowed, in our lives. It is evil because it is questioning God’s sovereign wisdom. We grumble about the weather, our finances, our family, our job, our church, our possessions, and more. When we grumble, we are speaking against God, expressing discontent, dissatisfaction, and anger about what he has given. Grumbling is an assault on the goodness of God. When we are tempted to think we lack something, in that moment, the response of faith is to take that thought captive, consider the goodness of God, and turn our situation into a song of praise.
As we battle temptation in our lives, we must begin with a proper understanding of what temptation is and where it comes from. With this foundation laid, we can then consider the common nature of all temptations, God’s faithfulness in the midst of temptation, and the endurance the Lord strengthens us with. These points we will look at in our next article.